IRA urged to resume talks with arms commission

The IRA was tonight urged to live up to its responsibilities and re-engage with the De Chastelin Commission.

The IRA was tonight urged to live up to its responsibilities and re-engage with the De Chastelin Commission.

Quote
The IRA will be seen to be orchestrating the collapse of the Assembly to enable their colleagues to once again don the mantle of martyrdom.
Unquote
Alliance deputy leader Seamus Close.

Alliance deputy leader, Mr Seamus Close, attacked the IRA's New Year statement which blamed the decommissioning deadlock on the British government.

The Assembly member for Lagan Valley said the public was sick of the same old message from republicans.

"People are fed up with statements from the IRA patting themselves on the back and blaming Tony Blair for not moving on demilitarisation when they know the IRA has yet to fulfil its obligations to those who voted for peace."

READ MORE

He said that unless the IRA acted quickly to re-engage with the decommissioning body, people would seriously question the organisation's good faith.

"The IRA will be seen to be orchestrating the collapse of the Assembly to enable their colleagues to once again don the mantle of martyrdom," he said.

"The Assembly's collapse may suit some people who would be happy to play the blame game but for the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland it would be an unmitigated disaster."

Meanwhile, there was little sign of fresh talks between British government officials and Sinn Féin beginning to break the impasse over disarmament and demilitarisation.

NIO officials said talks were unlikely to resume this week, while a Sinn Féin spokesman said that the sides had not spoken since talks ended abruptly on December 21.

"To my knowledge there are no arrangements for a resumption of discussions between us and the British government," said the spokesman.

He painted a gloomy picture of the likelihood of a breakthrough when talks eventually recommence, possibly next week.

"At this point in time, I don't see any evidence in the comments made by (Northern Ireland Secretary) Mr Peter Mandelson or British government sources over the past 24 hours to suggest any resumption of discussions are likely to see any different outcome.

"We are still getting the same nonsense from British government sources saying they have implemented the Patten Report. Who are they kidding? Do they think republicans and nationalists are stupid?"

Anti-Agreement members of the Ulster Unionist Party are studying events closely with a view to calling a meeting of its ruling council if there was no progress over decommissioning.

If a meeting was called it was expected to take place at the end of this month but one leading dissident said that it may not be necessary if consensus was reached among party officers to pull out of the powersharing executive with Sinn Féin.

"It isn't a foregone conclusion that there will be one. It depends on developments," said the source.

"At some stage the party is going to have to take stock. I think people are getting nervous moving closer to elections later this year. They are going to have to look closely at Sinn Féin and its position within the Executive."

PA